Illinois Supreme Court

The Illinois Supreme Court reversed a circuit court judgment invalidating the pretrial release provisions of Public Acts 101-652 and 102-1104, which abolished monetary bail in favor of a default of release on personal recognizance subject to conditions or, upon specified showings, pretrial detention.

The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed Aaron Jackson's first degree murder conviction and 35-year sentence, holding that eyewitness identifications by Nortisha Ball and Gilda Lott, corroborated by fingerprint, gunshot-residue, DNA, and limp evidence, were sufficient for a rational jury to convict beyond a reasonable…

The Illinois Supreme Court held that a 50-year sentence imposed for a murder committed at age 16 was an unconstitutional de facto life sentence because the sentencing court did not consider the defendant’s youth and attendant characteristics.

The court held that the evidence was sufficient to prove Harris guilty of murder beyond a reasonable doubt. It reversed the appellate court's determination that his mandatory 76-year aggregate sentence violated the Illinois proportionate penalties clause because Harris had not developed an evidentiary record…

The Illinois Supreme Court reversed the appellate court's affirmance of Montana Sebby's conviction for resisting a peace officer, holding that the trial court's failure to ask prospective jurors whether they understood and accepted the four Zehr principles mandated by Rule 431(b)—asking instead whether they had 'any…

The court held that a trial court may sua sponte consider whether to allow a successive postconviction petition to proceed, even when the petitioner did not request leave. It nevertheless affirmed dismissal because the recantation and affidavit, even taken as true and considered together, were not sufficiently…

The court held that the defendant forfeited his as-applied constitutional challenge to his mandatory natural-life sentence because he raised it for the first time on appeal from the dismissal of his section 2-1401 petition.

The court held that the trial court erred by failing to ask prospective jurors whether they understood the principles required by Rule 431(b), but the defendant forfeited that claim and could not obtain plain-error relief because the evidence was not closely balanced.

The court held that defendant's challenge to her forgery-by-making conviction was not moot because the conviction could have collateral consequences and affected the integrity of the judicial process.

The court held that the Class 4 form of Illinois's aggravated unlawful use of weapons statute facially violated the Second Amendment because it imposed a comprehensive ban on carrying an operable firearm for self-defense outside the home.

The Illinois Supreme Court reaffirmed the governing Illinois standard for successive postconviction claims of actual innocence and rejected the State's proposed heightened federal-style burden.

The court held that counsel was not ineffective for failing to file a motion to suppress a handgun because the motion would not have succeeded. Although the vehicle stop was unlawful, the defendant's flight and abandonment of the weapon interrupted the causal connection between the unlawful seizure and the weapon's…

The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the denial of Scott English's postconviction petition challenging his felony-murder conviction predicated on aggravated battery of a child. The court held the independent-felonious-purpose claim was forfeited because it could have been raised on direct appeal, and that appellate…

The Illinois Supreme Court reversed the second-stage dismissal of Albert Domagala's postconviction petition, holding he made a substantial showing that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate and present a defense that gross negligence by treating medical staff—an unreliable swallow study performed…

The court affirmed the denial of Hughes's motion to withdraw his guilty plea. It held that the circuit court retained subject matter jurisdiction despite the State's failure to refile or formally reinstate the previously nol-prossed charge, because the alleged offense fell within the general class of criminal matters…

The Illinois Supreme Court reversed the appellate court's affirmance of the circuit court's first-stage summary dismissal of Douglas Tate's postconviction petition, which alleged trial counsel was ineffective for failing to call two alibi witnesses and two occurrence witnesses and separately alleged actual innocence.

The Illinois Supreme Court held that a breach-of-contract claim against a dissolved corporation that did not accrue until after dissolution falls outside the survival provisions of section 12.80 of the Business Corporation Act of 1983, so P.B.S.

The court held that equitable estoppel cannot be asserted against a municipality based merely on employees' apparent authority or job titles. A plaintiff must plead specific facts showing an affirmative act by the municipality or an official with express authority, together with reasonable and detrimental reliance…

The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the denial of leave to file Walter Edwards's third and fourth successive postconviction petitions, both alleging actual innocence based on newly discovered evidence.

The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court's judgment, holding that defense counsel was not constitutionally ineffective for failing to challenge a prospective juror whose voir dire responses concerning sex offenders were conflicting.

The Illinois Supreme Court held that engineering firms hired to replace the Grand Avenue bridge deck over I-94 owed no duty to plaintiff Corinne Thompson to consider or design a Jersey barrier median, because the scope of their duty was defined entirely by their contract with the developer, which called for…

The Illinois Supreme Court reversed the appellate court and affirmed the circuit court’s judgment, holding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by excluding Dr. Katherine Okla’s proposed expert testimony concerning the reliability of the child victim’s statements and testimony.

The court held that the corroboration rule required reversal of two aggravated criminal sexual abuse convictions and two of three predatory criminal sexual assault convictions involving M.G., because independent evidence corroborated only one act of anal penetration and none of the alleged penile touching.

The Illinois Supreme Court held that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing Dione Alexander to 24 years' imprisonment for aggravated discharge of a firearm and unlawful use of weapons stemming from a 2005 high-school hallway shooting.

The Illinois Supreme Court held that although the trial court violated amended Supreme Court Rule 431(b) by never asking prospective jurors whether they understood and accepted that defendant was not required to present evidence, and by asking whether they understood but not whether they accepted the presumption of…

The Illinois Supreme Court held that the Illinois Notary Public Act limits an employer’s common-law liability for negligent supervision of a notary by requiring proof that the employer had some knowledge of the notary’s misconduct.

The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court's judgment upholding Howard J. Hillier's conviction for predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and his 20-year sentence, but on procedural-forfeiture grounds rather than the merits.

The court held that an insurer determining its duty to defend may consider pleadings beyond the underlying complaint when the policy contains a self-defense exception to an intentional-act exclusion and the additional pleadings raise a genuine issue concerning that exception.

The court held that Brown’s pro se postconviction petition was improperly summarily dismissed because its allegations and supporting materials arguably established both deficient performance and prejudice from counsel’s failure to request a fitness hearing.

The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part. Rejecting defendant's cross-appeal, it held the evidence sufficient to prove kidnapping beyond a reasonable doubt under both asportation and confinement theories, thereby affirming the aggravated criminal sexual assault conviction predicated on…

The Illinois Supreme Court held that a nondeath successive postconviction petition asserting actual innocence is not subject to the statutory cause-and-prejudice requirement. It further held that newly discovered eyewitness testimony from a previously unknown witness was not cumulative and was sufficiently conclusive…

The Illinois Supreme Court held that a pro se postconviction petition may be summarily dismissed as frivolous or patently without merit under section 122-2.1(a)(2) of the Post-Conviction Hearing Act only if it has no arguable basis either in law or in fact, and that Hodges's petition — alleging trial counsel was…

The court held that the notice of appeal, liberally construed, sufficiently conferred jurisdiction to review the defendant's challenge to his street-value fine. Although the defendant forfeited the sentencing challenge by failing to object or file a postsentencing motion, the fine was reviewable under the second prong…

The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed Michael Glasper's convictions for first degree murder and attempted first degree murder, holding that the trial court's refusal—despite a defense request—to ask the Rule 431(b)(4)/Zehr voir dire question about bias against a non-testifying defendant was error but not structural…

The court declined to abandon Illinois's one-act, one-crime doctrine, holding that multiple convictions based on the same physical act remain improper even though parole has been abolished.

The court held that the trial court committed plain error by mechanically denying appointed counsel's continuance request without exercising discretion or considering the relevant circumstances, forcing an unprepared attorney to try a serious murder case.

The Supreme Court of Illinois held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting limited testimony that DNA recovered from the murder scene was matched to defendant through a state DNA database, because the testimony was necessary to explain the nearly six-year gap in the investigation, was relevant…

The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed Bannister’s convictions and death sentence. It held that his guilt-phase jury waiver was knowing and voluntary despite inaccurate sentencing admonishments, that he personally controlled the statutory choice of a jury for capital sentencing, and that the challenged sentencing…

The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court's reversal of the defendant's convictions for heroin possession with intent to deliver and delivery, holding that the 10-year time limit on impeaching a witness with a prior conviction runs from the date of conviction or release from confinement, whichever is…

The court held that a postconviction court may authorize a defendant to file a late notice of appeal when ineffective assistance of counsel caused the loss of the defendant's direct appeal.